Many television critics legions of fans even the president of the United States have cited The Wire as the best television series ever In this sophisticated examination of the HBO serial drama that aired from until Linda Williams a leading film scholar and authority on the interplay between film melodrama and issues of race suggests what exactly it is that makes The Wire so good She argues that while the series is a powerful exploration of urban dysfunction and institutional failure its narrative power derives from its genre The Wire is popular melodrama not Greek tragedy as critics and the series creator David Simon have claimed Entertaining addictive funny and despairing all at once it is a serial melodrama grounded in observation of Baltimores people and institutions of cops and criminals schools and blue-collar labor local government and local journalism The Wire transforms close observation into an unparalleled melodrama by juxtaposing the good and evil of individuals with the good and evil of institutions.
